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This argument doesn’t make sense. You might as well say rifles need to be retired regardless because they cannot be upgraded to kill tanks. What you actually ne
by goatinaboat 7y ago
This argument doesn’t make sense. You might as well say rifles need to be retired regardless because they cannot be upgraded to kill tanks. What you actually need is a full spectrum of capabilities so you can use the right tool for the job each time.
- jandrewrogers 7y agoThe A-10 cannot fulfill its primary role (CAS) in most modern environments nor can it be upgraded to do so, which raises the question of what it is actually useful for. This is primarily due to lack of space in the airframe to dramatically expand the onboard electrical and power generation systems, which are needed to power modern defensive capabilities. In the last half century since it was designed, most of its passive survivability has also been obsoleted by more modern air defense systems specifically engineered to reliably kill planes like the A-10. Lack of effective active and passive defensive capabilities greatly limit what you can do with it if you care about pilot safety. It has become so limited in the CAS role due to poor survivability that we can't deploy it for most CAS missions. And for the environments where it can survive, the US has many other platforms that will work for CAS in the absence of effective air defense. The A-10 was designed for a very different battlefield that increasingly no longer exists.